CDC Reports on Health Insurance Coverage
November 16, 2010 – A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the number of Americans without health insurance continues to be a cause of concern.
The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Vol. 59, dated November 9, 2010, the results of which are summarized in the CDC’s November Vital Signs publication, found that:
In the first quarter of 2010, an estimated 59.1 million persons had no health insurance for at least part of the preceding 12 months, up from 58.7 million in 2009 and 56.4 million in 2008.
Of the 58.7 million in 2009, 48.6 million (82.8%) were aged 18-64 years. This represents about 25% of the adult population between 18 and 64. About 30,000,000 of the adults in this age range went without health insurance for the past 12 months or longer.
From 2006 to 2009, the number of adults aged 18-64 without health insurance increased by an average of about 1.1 million per year; about half of the total increase occurred among those with family income levels two to three times the federal poverty level. In 2009, 21% of persons aged 18-64 with family income levels three to four times the federal poverty level went without health insurance for part of the preceding 12 months.
About 46 million (or almost 1 in 4) adults aged 18-64 have a disability; about 30% of adults in this age range who also had a disability reported in 2009 that they had no health insurance in the preceding 12 months.
The report concludes that “an increasing proportion of persons aged 18-64 years in the United States lack health insurance, even for brief periods, and that gaps in insurance coverage are associated with delaying or forgoing health care…These findings are especially important for persons with chronic disease. Approximately 40% of persons in the United States have one or more chronic diseases.”
The MMWR report can be downloaded by clicking here and the CDC Vital Signs publication can be downloaded by clicking here.